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 Interactive map of Vasil Levski National Stadium | |
| Location | Sofia,Bulgaria |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°41′15″N23°20′7″E / 42.68750°N 23.33528°E /42.68750; 23.33528 |
| Public transit |  Vasil Levski Stadium; buses, trolleybuses, trams (see location section) |
| Owner | Ministry of Physical Education and Sport of Bulgaria |
| Operator | Ministry of Physical Education and Sport of Bulgaria |
| Capacity | 43,230[1] |
| Field size | 105 x 68 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 5 July 1953 |
| Renovated | 1966, 2002, 2012, 2015 |
| Architect | Kano Dundakov |
| Tenants | |
| Levski Sofia (1934–1950) Bulgaria national football team (1950–) CSKA 1948 (2016–2021) CSKA Sofia (2024–2026) | |
Vasil Levski National Stadium (Bulgarian:Национален стадион „Васил Левски“), named afterBulgariannational hero and revolutionaryVasil Levski (1837–1873), is the country's second largest stadium. The stadium has 43,230 seats and is located in the centre ofSofia, on the territory of the city's oldest and most famous park - theBorisova gradina.TheBulgaria national football team's home matches and theBulgarian Cup finals are held at the venue, as well asathletics competitions. It was used as the home venue for Levski Sofia's Champions League games, and is often used forimportant derbies between the big clubs from Sofia, instead of their own home stadiums.
Vasil Levski National Stadium was officially opened in 1953, extended in 1966 and renovated in 2002.
Prior to their demolition by the Communist authorities during the 1940s and 50s, two other stadiums stood on the ground where the current national stadium lies. One of those wasLevski Sofia's club stadium, calledLevski Field (Bulgarian:Igrishte Levski, completed 1934), and the other - theYunak Stadium (built 1928), which lay partially to the southwest. The latter used to host national football team matches with its capacity of about 15,000 seats. Levski were never compensated for their loss. During the 1960s, they build a new stadium - the present dayGeorgi Asparuhov.
The Vasil Levski stadium was completed in 1953 with an announced capacity of 42,000.[2] Originally, only the lower tier of stands was built (roughly half the height of the current stands), and, due to the uneven lie of the land, the western end of the pitch and stands were below ground level.[3] The upper tier was built about a decade later, with the current floodlight towers built in the late 1960s.
The Vasil Levski stadium was used for athletics competitions immediately after its official opening on 5 July 1953. The first football match played there after its opening was a friendly betweenDinamo Sofia andFC Wien and, a month later, it also began being used for league games. The first international was a world cup qualifier on 6 September againstCzechoslovakia.[4]
The stadium offers alsojudo,artistic gymnastics,basketball,boxing,aerobics,fencing andtable tennis halls, as well as a general physical training hall, two conference halls and three restaurants.It hosted the1957European basketball championship.[5]
It was the proposed venue for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Sofia's bid for the2014 Winter Olympics.
In July 2011, plans were announced to build a new 40,000 all-seater national stadium in the Sofia suburbs, but was later scrapped.
The stadium has hosted music shows by a number of regional and world stars.
The biggest concert in Bulgaria ever and thus at the Vasil Levski stadium was held by Yugoslav superstarLepa Brena on 24 July 1990 in front of 200,000 people.[6] This record remains unbroken to date. The curiosity of the concert was the way Lepa Brena arrived at the stadium - by landing from the helicopter directly to the stage with a rope.
AmericanmetalbandMetallica held one of the most successful concerts inBulgaria in the stadium as part of their2008 European Vacation Tour, attracting 50,000 people.[7]
AmericansuperstarMadonna had a very successful concert here as part of the second European second leg of herSticky & Sweet Tour on 29 August 2009. She performed in front of 54,000 people[8][citation needed] and was warmly welcomed by her numerous fans. After the show, the grass was badly damaged, which caused some discontent amongst football fans, national team players, coaches and staff.
On 14 May 2010,Australianrock bandAC/DC played theBulgarian capitalSofia, in front of nearly 60,000 fans as part of theirBlack Ice World Tour.
A festival, under the nameSofia Rocks, part ofSonisphere Festival took place on the Vasil Levski National Stadium. The festival was held over 2 days on 22 and 23 June with live performances by world-renowned bands such asRammstein,Metallica,Manowar andAlice in Chains among others.
The Big Four,Metallica,Megadeth,Slayer, andAnthrax, performed all together during theSonisphere Festival. The performance at theSonisphere Festival inSofia was beamed to more than 450 movie theatres in more than 140 markets in the U.S. and select cities in Europe, Canada and South America on 22 June 2010. The live video was later released on DVD and Blu-ray in October 2010, entitledThe Big 4 Live from Sofia, Bulgaria.
On 30 October, the North American rock bandBon Jovi announced that they will perform live at Levski during theirBecause We Can tour on 14 May 2013.[needs update]
On 30 July 2023, the North American pop rock bandImagine Dragons performed live at Levski as part of theirMercury World Tour
The stadium is located in the city centre. It can be reached by bus (lines 9, 72, 75, 76, 84, 94, 184, 204, 213, 304, 604), trolleybus (lines 1, 2, 5, 8), tram (lines 10, 12, 18) or via theVasil Levski Stadium metro station.
| Preceded by | Eurobasket Final Venue 1957 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Universiade 1977 | Succeeded by |
